It may be comfortable to prop your feet up on the dashboard when you’re riding shotgun in the car, but officials with the Chattanooga Fire Department are warning riders of potential consequences that could befall a front-seat passenger whose feet aren’t on the floor of a vehicle.
“Airbags deploy between 100 and 220 mph. If you ride with your feet on the dash and you're involved in an accident, the airbag may send your knees through your eye sockets,” a Chattanooga Fire Department official wrote Thursday on Facebook.
According to WTVC in Chattanooga, Audra Tatum was riding in a car with her husband when she found out about the consequences of resting a foot on the dash first-hand.
"We were heading to my parents to pick up our two sons. A car came up to a stop sign and we were coming down the road and he pulled out in front of us ... We T-boned him," Tatum told WTVC. "When the airbag exploded, it pushed my foot up into my face."
Tatum wasn't wearing a seat belt.
Her nose, ankle, femur and shoulder were all broken.
Two years later, Tatum still hasn’t healed.
"It took my career from me. It took so much from me in life," she told WTVC. "I regret it every single day. Every hour of every day because every time I put pressure on my leg, I feel it."
Now, she’s warning others to ride the safe way.
“Do not sit like that. If you sit like that, you're asking for it,” she said.
Credit: Kohei Hara
Credit: Kohei Hara
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